An unnamed spokesman according to SunSports said the government would “regulate and restrain high-priced signings, and make reasonable restrictions on players’ high incomes”.

He further stresses that “We must take building hundred-year clubs as the goal. We will remove the seriously insolvent clubs from the professional league.”

Last month the Chinese FA announced that it will reduce the number of overseas players allowed on from five to four to attempt to develop local talent.

It is also worthy of note that State-backed CSL clubs broke the Asian transfer record four times last year after President Xi Jinping announced his ambition to make the country a footballing superpower.